Anger over no state funeral to Kargil War hero by Karnataka government

Kargil war hero Col MB Ravindranath based in Bangalore breathed his last on Sunday after suffering a heart attack, he was 59. The then Commanding Officer of 2 Rajputana Rifles, Col Ravindranath was famously known for taking back the Tololing Top from the Pakistani aggressors during the 1999 Kargil war. Following his heroics, he was awarded the Vir Chakra by the Indian government.

Despite his heroics and contribution to India, the response to his death by Congress led Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka, has left much to be desired for.

As per a report in Bangalore Mirror, various ex-servicemen in Bangalore were miffed with the Siddaramaiah government’s apathy over his death. It quoted Indian Army Forum’s President Shashank Shivkumar as claiming that the Karnataka government neither condoled its death nor was there any representation from the government in this matter.

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The forum’s president also complained that the government didn’t provide him any state funeral as well.

Even Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar has expressed anger over this matter. On Monday he appealed to the Siddaramaiah government to do the right thing by providing him a state funeral. Later when the state government’s apathy started to come to light, he called Siddaramaiah a “shameless hypocrite” after accusing him of dividing people, while not bothering to care about Col Ravindranath.

While expressing anger over this issue, Chandrasekhar also pointed out how the Siddaramaiah government had provided full state honours to late journalist Gauri Lankesh during her funeral. Besides this, her funeral had also seen the presence of CM Siddaramaiah, former Union Minister Veerappa Moily and other politicians.

In contrast, Col Ravindranath was laid to rest in his native village of Holesiregere on Monday, the ceremony of which was attended by JD(S) MLA H.S. Shivshankar and a few other dignitaries.

In the coming months, we can certainly expect several comments from SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati against Rahul Gandhi and Congress' overall strategy to consolidate upper caste votes.

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